Talk

Drian Juarez

Drian Juarez works as a consultant on Transgender issues in the workplace and assists in developing programs for communities endeavoring to help Transgender people get back to work. Juarez has served as the Program Manager for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center’s Transgender Economic Empowerment Project (TEEP). Under her direction, TEEP has worked with over one thousand Transgender people by assisting with basic housing and helping Transgender people move from the street economy to assisting with more complex job skills like resume writing and job searches for Transgender people who transitioned after establishing professional careers. In her role, Juarez developed a coalition of grass-roots organizations to help meet the specific needs of the Transgender community. She has collaborated with homeless shelters to provide housing and basic living needs, coordinated with non-profits and schools to offer basic job training and has taught over 500 employers in law enforcement, government entities and businesses on the unique issues faced by the Transgender community. Juarez, who is also the current Chair of the West Hollywood Transgender Advisory Board, got her start as a community organizer when she was hired as the Lead HIV Outreach Health Educator at a local Los Angeles non-profit agency. In that capacity, Juarez provided a myriad of services in the West Hollywood area to trans-women to help them move from the street economy to empowering career paths and job opportunities.

Many discussions of gender in technology focus on making tech a friendlier space for women. But what can we do to deconstruct our reliance on binary notions of gender in technology spaces? How do we decenter cisgender experience in our discussions of gender diversity? What steps can we take to make our workplaces, conferences, and discussions more friendly to trans and gender non-conforming people? While the tech world certainly has some highly visible out trans women (most of whom are white and highly educated), tech is still quite exclusive and out of reach for most transgender people. In my job, I work with hundreds of transgender people seeking basic employment-- most of whom have little formal education and non-traditional work histories. How can we make tech accessible to them?

Receive AlterConf News

All Events

About

AlterConf is a traveling conference series that provides safe opportunities for marginalized people and those who support them in the tech and gaming industries.